1. Institutionalized Gangs

2. Most Gangs in the World are found in Latin America, Africa, and South Asia

3. Urbanization in Lagos

4. Maras in San Salvador

5. Two Kinds of Gang Interstititial- groups of youth that are socialized to the streets and come and go. Typically composed of adolescents; products of urbanization and poverty Institutional- groups of youth that are socialized to the streets but persist over decades. Typically composed of both adolescents and adults; products of more complex social processes

6. Institutionalized Gangs Are Similar to other Groups of Armed Young Men and typically have high rates of violence

7. Gang Are Institutionalized When They Persist despite changes in leadership (e.g. killed, incarcerated, matured out) Have organization complex enough to sustain multiple roles of its members Can adapt to changing environments (e.g. police repression) without dissolving Fulfill some needs of their community (economy, security, services) Organize a distinct outlook of their members (sometimes called a gang subculture) often with a “literature” and/or “laws and prayers.”

8. Most institutionalized gangs “organize crime” but are not necessarily hierarchical

9. Conditions for Gang Institutionalization Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and Resistance Identity Underground Economy Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and demoralization Defensible Spaces

10. Conditions for Gang Institutionalization-1 Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and Resistance Identity Underground Economy Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and demoralization Defensible Spaces

11. Poverty often means youth gangs but not necessarily violence or institutionalized gangs

12. Poverty in Chicago

13. Chicago’s Ghetto 1910- 2000

14. Poverty, Race, and Homicide Coincide Spatially

15. Conditions for Gang Institutionalization-2 Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and Resistance Identity Underground Economy Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and demoralization Defensible Spaces

16. Walls of Exclusion in the West Bank

17. Chicago’s Wall of Exclusion Robert Taylor Homes and Stateway Gardens along with an eight lane highway formed one of the largest walls in the world seperating Irish Bridgeport from Black Bronzeville

18. Nigeria’s Bakassi Boys

19. UDF- Nationalist Militia or Drug Gang?

20. Maori Gangs in New Zealand have persisted for decades

21. Conditions for Gang Institutionalization-3 Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and Resistance Identity Underground Economy Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and demoralization Defensible Spaces

22. Chicago’s Black Gangster Disciples and the “New Concept”

23. In Medillin, both cartels and para- militaries recruit youth gangs

24. Conditions for Gang Institutionalization-4 Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and Resistance Identity Underground Economy Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and demoralization Defensible Spaces

25. Cape Flats Displacement = Violence

26. Chechnya Refugee Children

27. Where the State is Weak, Groups of Armed Young Men take over

28. Arkan and his Tigers Began the Process of Ethnic Cleansing

29. Projects Today, Condos Tomorrow

30. From Vertical to Horizontal Ghettoes

31. Displacement for Some Lattes for Others

32. Conditions for Gang Institutionalization-5 Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and Resistance Identity Underground Economy Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and demoralization Defensible Spaces

33. Defensible Spaces of Rio’s Favelas

34. Defensible Spaces in Chicago

35. Conclusion Two kinds of Gangs - vast majority are temporary youth gangs Dealing with these gangs is a variation in dealing with wayward youth; tactics vary with local conditions. But these are kids Gangs institutionalize only in certain conditions; such gangs cannot be rooted out by repression and require different, broader tactics

36. Very low rates of violence make me question whether the conditions for gang institutionalization are present

37. What is most important is to understand the conditions of gang institutionalization and violence in your specific locale and country

38. Thank You http://gangresearch. net